How I eat as healthy as I can.

They say diet is 80% and exercise is 20%, I'm no authority but I know that "If you eat what you've always eaten, you'll weigh what you've always weighed." Your diet is important!  Here is my perspective on the food I put in my body.  After all, we have no control over genetics etc... but we do have control over what we put in our mouths.

First let me say, I am  trying to drink more water.  A lot of times we feel hungry when our bodies are dehydrated and that's because your body wants water any way that it can get it.  My goal is 64 oz/day.  That's eight 8oz cups and a pretty standard goal.  It will help you to not feel as hungry.

Speaking of "hungry," in my world there are 2 kinds of "hungry."  One is "mouth hungry," where you aren't actually hungry because your body needs fuel, you just want to eat because it tastes good and satisfies you.  The other is "tummy hungry," which is your body's reaction to the actual need for fuel.  I ignore mouth hunger and chew a piece of gum.  When I am actually hungry for real I make my calories count by eating as many "whole" foods as I can that are high in nutrients and as little processed and junk food as possible.

I use my fitbit to keep track of what I eat, how much and how many calories.  I am talking about the calories I'm taking in compared what I'm burning.  I have a Fitbit Charge 2 and eventually want a Versa so that I can swim with it on, but that will have to come in time as my Charge2 is working just fine for now and my bank account isn't always.

I employ my will to say no several times daily.  I do not eat if I don't know the calories in something.  Sometimes I go to to restaurants with my hiking buddies group and just order a diet soda because I don't know how many calories are in the food and I insist on losing as quickly as is safely possible.  I want to see results!  Most restaurants serve multiple servings on one plate/order and therefore are far more calories than I need, which means that they are far more calories than I want.  I would rather wait until I get home and feel the pride of self control.

 I do however, eat at a few places that I can get the calorie count on certain foods.  For example:  Chick-Fil-a has a char-grilled chicken sandwich and the calories are easily found online in their "nutrition" section of the website.  Smashburger and Wendys have similar menu items that allow me to have a treat now and then if I have worked off enough extra calories for the day.  One thing I do consistently is to carry snacks in the car.  Lara bars, Cliff bars, dried fruits, nuts, pouches of tuna, yogurt in a cooler, fruit, single servings of peanut butter... etc.  are wonderful at not allowing me to have to "grab something" while I'm out.  The trick is to carry snacks that you don't hate, but aren't so good you'll be tempted to over eat them.  Just carry one or two things if you're only going to be gone a few hours to run errands for the day.  

That being said, I honestly don't deprive myself.  I have whatever I want in small amounts, a fun size candy bar or a couple of kisses when I'm craving chocolate, a lunch snack size bag of chips (one serving,) or even some macaroni and cheese (microwave cups are perfect,) peanut butter, bread or pasta in small amounts. I do measure my food, I found that buying some measuring cups at the Dollar Tree and leaving appropriate serving size measures in foods like cereal, nuts/seeds and powdered coffee creamer helps tremendously.  It cuts down on washing them and makes it convenient to not have to go looking for the appropriate size measure.

I try to eat "clean."  For those of you who don't know what that means, it basically means not putting any kind of goop on your food such as sour cream, dressing, gravy, sauces, etc.  It's hard and I don't stick to that 100% of the time, and when I do put "goop" on my food I measure the serving size only and count the calories... all my food goes into my Fitbit, even one single cracker.  The only foods I do not count are:  raw lettuce, raw tomato, raw onion, raw celery, dill pickles, raw broccoli, and other raw vegetables that do not have enough calories that I could possibly go overboard on them.  I do count corn, carrots etc because they have a much higher sugar content/calorie count.
Remember that Whole Foods are best, processed foods have dirty little secrets and sugar causes inflammation.  To be honest, sugar is my biggest downfall.  I am thoroughly addicted to it.  Pastries, candies, all of it and there's one certain week per month it's at it's worst.  I have actually walked 12 miles (walking until midnight) to burn off the calories I ate in chocolate bars earlier in the evening.  I am no quitter.  LOL!

What do I think of diets such as vegan, paleo, keto, south beach, etc?  Well, I was vegan for 2.5 years.  I believe that a whole food plant based diet is the healthiest diet you can possibly have, however... vegan means "no animal products" and is NOT synonymous with healthy.  Oreo cookies, Fruit Loops, & Sour Patch Kids are all vegan foods.  I don't know much about other diets, many of them I believe are gimmicks and work on a temporary basis.  If I was going to pick a program for someone that needed help I would recommend Weight Watchers only because I know so many people who have had success with it. With regard to weight-loss surgery... if that's what you have to do to get healthy and love yourself then do it.  More power to you for recognizing that is what you need to do and getting it done.  Know it's not an easy fix, you still have to work to be healthy.

Sometimes I go over my calories for the day, but you must then remember that no one is perfect, everyone goes a little party animal at times and you should not punish yourself for what you over ate.  Learn from that experience, and try to prevent it from happening too often.  Remember to exercise as a celebration of what your body can do and not a punishment.  If you over eat regularly, you might be trying to cover your feelings and your reasons might be treated best with some professional help.  Many people have found success with controlling their diet through therapy.  ...Just something to consider.

Well, that's all I can think of for right now for this post.  I hope I've possibly inspired or motivated one reader to try to be a healthier, happier person.  Until next week....